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But, do you really need another million?

Marketers often bemoan the fact that they don’t have enough money to implement the marketing campaigns they would like. None more than in b2b sectors.

It’s true that we always want more money for our marketing budget, but if it was given to you right now, what would you do with it?

No, really, what would you do with it? Invest in more telesales people, more disruption advertising, more PR, more direct mail to convince that niche audience to transact with you? Larger exhibition stands, a rebrand, ‘social media’? Some focus groups? How about a promotion with lots of giveaways? There’s an abundance of choice.

But, rather than bemoan the fact you never have enough, why not prove it?

As a way of expressing value and return to a sceptical management team, you might think creatively the next time you submit a budget. For one, don’t wait till the day they ask you. Do it early. Shows initiative and preparedness.

And don’t work within the budget assigned, triple it. Show the outputs and outcomes that will be achieved. Then half it (and the outputs and outcomes), and then half it again. At each stage, illustrate the opportunities lost, the products in the range left unsupported, the sectors left unengaged.

Review where the leads come from. Critically assess the things you do year in, year out and ask why you’re doing them? It’s no surprise that advertising and trade shows are commonly the first things cut from marketing plans. Expensive and arguably self absorbed.

3 thoughts on “But, do you really need another million?”

Your experience is getting in the way, Rene. In the old days we thought in terms of campaigns. These had fixed costs due to print runs or media buying schedules. They also had finite run times. Hence marketing was viewed as a series of standalone campaigns.

Now you build a position gently and over time. Your social media, web search and lead generation programmes are ongoing. If you are using a good customer intelligence programme as the core, you are getting daily feedback on who is on your website, how many people are at the various stages in your nurturing and your Alexa and other rankings. You know how many web visits you are getting, how many click-throughs your PPC is delivering and how many people are opening your emails.

So, while there is still a set-up cost for each item, the majority of the cost is in running things on. And all of these metrics mean that you can increase the work you do in one area which you can see working, tweak areas where your results are less exciting and move the conversation forward gently and logically to build your tribe, continue to delight them and use their enthusiasm to build your sphere of influence. Every thread you operate has an influence on eachother building into a powerful, synergistic marketing programme.

Stop start marketing is a hangover from the interruption era. The days of marketing campaigns are dead.

Thanks Peter, as ever. Of course, you’re right. Campaigns in the purest sense are a sales promotion over a defined period of time. They remain the marketer pushing his/her message at an audience rather than really understanding the customer and encouraging them to interact.

Like the new look blog – would be nice to have the opportunity to comment and get involved too.